DIY Musician advice for a late starter

[Nyrrth]

This is a somewhat long post, but I just needed some guidance and motivation in kickstarting my delayed foray into seriously pursuing music. The TL;DR version is "I'm starting to seriously pursue technical guitar playing and DIY production quite late in the game, so I need a bit of direction and tips".

The longer version:

So I just had an epiphany at turning 35 a couple weeks ago - I've spent the last 10-12 years wasting my time on mindless noodling on the guitar when the mood struck, and this needs to change fast!

Every now and then I would enter a "phase" for a few months where I would get somewhat serious, practice a bit (without any real structure), get involved in bands/projects temporarily (vocals, with some guitar), and then for one reason or another, end up setting aside the instrument for months or even years. I've also been very disillusioned with the whole band thing, because it was always hard to get a group of people together - whether it was due to personal priorities or musical direction. I built a home recording studio two months ago and finally decided to give my newfound passion for guitar and music another chance.

At this point my goals are two-fold - (1) get back to the basics and refine my guitar technique and be able to play more technical stuff, and (2) be able to record, mix and produce my ideas and be a DIY musician. I don't have pretensions of being the next star. I just want to give my passion the attention it has been lacking all these years, make some music, post it online and have fun with it. I guess I'm a late starter, whether it was picking up a guitar for the first time at age 21-22 back home in India, joining the Sevenstring forum (yesterday!), or finally realizing at the ripe old age of 35 that I need to get my butt in gear to truly get some happiness out of music, instead of moping over lost time.

Here is a link to my Soundcloud page:

xxPorcupinexTreexx's sounds on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I only have two samples on there. The first one is a scratch idea I was playing around with a few weeks ago. The other one is just an Opeth cover I did last year for fun. Both samples were entirely done by me, including the horribly androgynous pitch-shifted/format enhanced voice at the end of the Opeth song!

This seems like a fantastic forum, so I'd really like to hear from anyone who started off relatively late in the game, as well as those who have some insight into how best I can achieve my goals.

Thanks!

 

[Ryan-ZenGtr-]

Hi Nyrrth, you came to the right place. There's a lot of people here who are very generous with the information your asking for. I'm sure a few will see this and leave something good for you.

There's various categories here which will be of interest to you. You can try the search function (top right of the sites tool bar) to find what you need.

So far as playing, all you'll need is your guitar, some fresh sets of strings, your favourite records and a metronome (or other source of perfect time, like a drum machine etc.).

You'll want to develop a practice regime, get the tabs of all your favourite songs to learn and study them, find some suitable theory and musical excercises to work on.

After that, you'll want to check out the recording section to see what you can do to improve the way you work with the equipment you have and what you might need to research before acquiring. There's lot's here on guitar and amp maintenance.

There's lot's of software available to simulate, record and mix guitars, all the links are around here.

Get stuck in with the search function and have fun!

A disciplined approach is the most successful.

Best of luck!

Free Digital Audio Workstation (or DAW)
http://www.reaper.fm/

Free Guitar amp simulators
http://lepouplugins.blogspot.co.uk/

Free Cabinet simulations (impulses)
http://noisevault.com/index.php?page=ir-library

Free Mixing tools
http://www.meldaproduction.com/

Free Synths
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/

Free tabs
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

Get downloading and go make some music!

*Edit: lol, after writing all that n00b13 stuff I just listened to your soundcloud... Genius!!!! Sounds really good!!!

It seems like what your doing is working.

 

[BTFStan]

how it went down for me was basically I got a pod and some studio monitors. From there I played a LOT, crafted and shaped tones a LOT, and got familiar with a DAW. Your playing will get better with just that.. playing. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you to do a bunch of core exercises to increase your playing. Only focus on core practicing when you personally aren't happy with your playing at this point. Recording is fun and when you produce results that surprise you you'll want to keep coming back and doing more and more and getting better and better.

 

[Nyrrth]

*Edit: lol, after writing all that n00b13 stuff I just listened to your soundcloud... Genius!!!! Sounds really good!!!

Hi Ryan-ZenGtr-,

Thanks for all the information, and the kind words on my Soundcloud page. Yes, it's true that I'm certainly not a beginner. I've played in bands, been in music projects etc., but it's been very disorganized and inconsistent, and I've heavily relied on other people to do things like dial in tones, mix, avoided pushing myself to the next level etc. Certainly not 10-12 years worth of progress and what could have been. And sometimes it is good to consider oneself a noob to get a reality check. For example, in all my time playing, I *never* did metronome practice, never had a practice regimen like you mentioned - things that I've only taken seriously for about 1 month now. So despite being a so-called "intermediate" player, there are several lessons to be learnt from going back to the basics. I will also try and use this forum extensively.

BTFStan - What you've mentioned is also what I'm taking seriously. I have all the gear and more, and I just need to commit to pursuing it and following up on that commitment with diligence. Recording is going to be a huge focus, along with pushing my playing to the next level.